


more than survive

by PlanetOblivion



Category: Batman - All Media Types, Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/M, I Can't Believe I Wrote This, I Don't Even Know, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, One-Sided Attraction, Pen Pals
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-23
Updated: 2019-08-23
Packaged: 2020-09-24 14:01:38
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,927
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20359693
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PlanetOblivion/pseuds/PlanetOblivion
Summary: Marinette always had vague hopes of meeting Damian in person. She didn't know it would lead to all this.Damian found her to be interesting. She didn't know about his family, or fortune. And yet. . . She still sticks around. But he wishes they could've met in person with better circumstances.





	1. Chapter 1

Marinette lays on her bedroom floor, hair loose around her head and dull eyes looking at the ceiling. She sighs and turns her head to the laptop next to her. ”I don't know, Dami. What am I doing wrong?” she asks in English.

She can see Damian glance at her through the screen, obscured chest down by the desk. Damian hums and places his pencil down. “I think you’re going about this the wrong way, Angel. Have you ever thought that the class is the one in the wrong?” 

Marinette huffs and turns over to her stomach, resting her chin on her arms. “They’re wrong to believe Lila, but maybe I'm just not putting enough effort into being friendly?” she wonders.

Damian scoffs and taps his screen. “Angel, you literally tried making them all cookies,” he says in French. “And then the bitch claimed she was allergic.”

“Dami!” Marinette covers her face. “You can't just cuss someone out!”

“Mm,” he hums unconvincingly. “Say, didn’t you have something coming up.”

Marinette squints her eyes at the boy on the other side of the screen. “I see what you're doing. But yes, I do. It’s supposed to be a big trip or something.”

“And it’s soon?” he asks, resuming his work.

“Mmhm.”

“And you don't know what it is exactly?”

“Yep,” Marinette huffs out. For a moment, she just presses her face against her carpet and closes her eyes. “I wish we could meet,” she says, not really registering what's coming out of her mouth. “Video call and texting is nice but being in person could be colder. Cooler.”

Damian is silent and Marinette opens her eyes to see him biting his lip and staring hard at his desk. “Dami?”

“Hm?” Damian jerks and looks at her. “What? Is something wrong?”

Marinette raises her eyebrows. “Everything okay in Gotham?”

Damian nods. “Yeah, why?”

She motions to her own neck. “There’s a bruise on your jaw.”

“Oh uh,” Damian flounders. “It’s a. . . hickey?” he says unsurely.

Marinette stares at him for a moment, a grin growing on her face. She ignores the weird ache in her chest as she says, “A hickey. Really? From who?” The last part is partly teasing and mocking, and partly curious. 

Damian scoffs. “Plenty of people would want to give me a hickey, unfortunately.”

“Do you even know what a hickey is?” It's official. Damian’s face is too hilarious. Marinette bursts out laughing, and says, “Your face! You are scowling so much!”

The scowl disappears as Marinette keeps howling, curling on her side, still pressing against the carpet.

"Wait-Wait, for real? Like, you, Damian, actually got one? Or did you get into a fight?" Marinette asks, after wiping at her eyes. "And tell me the honest answer, Damian."

Damian huffs and stays silent for a few moments before he says, "I may have gotten into a fight."

"Damian!"

Damian is quick to reassure her. "It's okay though! Angel, honestly, I'm fine."

Marinette sighs and rolls over back to her stomach, squinting to who she considers her best friend. "Did you tell your dad?" Damian never really talks about his family. She knows more about animals from him than his actual family.

Damian grins at her, and she distantly notes that her friend is fairly attractive. "Yes, Father knows. My brothers are being annoying though."

"Brothers?" Those are new. Marinette doesn't remember Damian ever mentioning them before. Then again, she never asks. She understands not wanting to talk about certain things.

Damian's hand runs through his short black hair. Marinette likes how Damian is comfortable enough around her to not have it styled. Damian mentioned once or twice in passing how he always has it styled in public. "Yes. Unfortunately they feel the need to bother me 24/7. Wait, isn't it late in Paris?"

"Hmm? Oh, yes! Well, not really, but I am trying to get more control of my sleep schedule." That isn't exactly a lie. Marinette hates straight out lying. Even more after Lie-la. 

"I suppose this is goodbye, Angel?" Damian says with a soft smile. Marinette always feels her face heat up a bit when he does that.

"Uh. . . yeah. Yeah, goodnight Dami," she says, distracted by his kind expression.

"Goodnight, Angel." The video call ends and Marinette stares at the screen a bit longer before turning her laptop off and burying her face in her arms. 

"Tikki? Do you think Damian has a romantic partner?"

Her kwami looks up from her cookie, sitting on the desk, out of the computer's view. Stuffing the rest in her mouth, she zips over to her Chosen. "I'm sure he doesn't," Tikki says. "I would think he'd mention if he does."

"God, why am I even thinking about this Tikki," Marinette groans. Sure, she gets uncomfortable whenever she thinks about him having a girlfriend, or a boyfriend, or anything like that. But she's just his friend! She has no reason to think about his life like this.

"Let's just do patrol before I start burying myself in the ground. Tikki, spots on!" After she transforms, she grabs a jacket she has been using more and more often. It's a heavy black hoodie with a red inside and her symbol on the back. The red circle with five black dots stand out and makes her more identifiable.

It's getting colder and colder, maybe a few weeks from now, she'll have to wear leggings or something. Opening the window lets in the cold air, and Ladybug shivers. The hoodie may help, but the cold still makes her feel sleepy and slow.

She blames that fact later when she doesn't know she has company until a hand grabs her wrist. Letting out a yelp, she twists around and flips the other person, backing up a few feet when she sees the black leather.

"Hello, M'Lady," he says, and Ladybug stiffens. "You've gotten stronger."

She cocks out a hip, and says, "You would maybe know that if you show up to akuma fights. Also, don't touch me."

Chat Noir's face screws up for a second before smoothing out again. "Well, you didn't seem to need me. And also, not touch you? So no hugs?" He spreads out his arms and steps forward, smile still on his face.

Ladybug just scowls. Hers has gotten better since she first started talking with Damian. "I said don't touch me, Chat Noir," she hisses.

Chat Noir huffs and drops his arms, looking at her with a condescending expression. "I don't know why you're being like this, Bugaboo. Maybe we can talk about this over ice cream?" He winks at the end of his sentence.

Ladybug suppresses a scoff of revulsion and shakes her head. "Stay away from me, Chat Noir." She starts to swing away.

Thankfully, Chat Noir stays behind and doesn't chase her. But Ladybug still hears him call out. "I don't know why you're fighting this, M'Lady! We're destined to be together! You'll see eventually!"

When Ladybug gets home, she locks the skylight and detransforms in her room. When she's in her sleepwear and Tikki's out of sight, finishing off her pastries, Marinette settles on her chaise and opens her laptop. All the lights are turned off, so her face is illuminated by the screen glow.

Marinette wonders if Damian will answer if she calls. Then, curled around a pillow, she sends out a video call request. For a few seconds she wonders if he won't answer. But then the screen is filled with Damian and Marinette cracks a relieved smile.

"Angel, I thought you went to sleep hours ago?" Damian asks, voice full of worry.

"Turns out I can't really fall asleep," Marinette whispers. It's true. She still feels icky from her encounter with her former partner. "Maybe you can tell me about those Gotham--" She's cut off by knocking coming from her skylight.

She freezes and, judging by the narrowing of Damian's eyes, the boy on the other side of the screen catches the movement. "I'm sure it's nothing," she tries to say. The knocking continues more harshly at the end of her sentence, and she winces. “I’ll actually be right back,” she whispers, and she ends the video call before Damian can protest.

Marinette makes her way to the skylight and taps it, reluctantly opening it after she sees the shadow move. She climbs out and shivers at the cold night air, wishing she grabbed a jacket instead of going out there in a thin strapped top and shorts. Chat Noir’s leaning against the balcony railing, tail flicking behind him.

“What’s with all the banging? I was trying to sleep,” Marinette says.

“Weren't on your bed,” Chat Noir replies. 

“I was on my chaise. What do you want?”

“Me-ouch, Princess. Just needed someone to rant to.”

Marinette knows she won't get out of this, so she curls up on the lawn chair while the black cat themed boy perched on the railings. When he launches into a rant, she drifts in and out of focus.

“I saw her in the rooftops--”

Blink.

“--only wanted to--”

Blink.

“--flips me, which is kinda hot--”

Blink.

“--and then she blames me, really--”

Blink.

“--and she yelled at me, Princess!”

Marinette makes sure to nod at the end, tacking on a quiet, “Oof.”

Chat Noir stands up, maybe trying to show off how he can stand on a railing with no problem, and stretches. “Sorry to take up your time, princess. I’ll see you later?” Without waiting for a response, he shoots away, gone by the time Marinette gets past the sickness in her stomach.

Marinette climbs back into her room and nearly falls asleep right then and there when she got to the chaise and got a blanket around her. She turns on her laptop, again, and this time Damian automatically picks up, a worried frown on his face. “Angel, who was--”

“Dami, can we please not talk about it,” Marinette interrupts.

“Angel--”

“He didn't even do anything, okay,” she continues, not noticing her mistake.

“He? Angel, why was a guy kno--”

“He just talked to me!” Marinette tries to reassure.

“Angel, you looked terrified--”

“IT DOESN'T MATTER OKAY, DAMI?” Marinette shouts into her pillow. “I don't want to talk about that. Can't we just forget it? I just want to learn more about Gotham’s superheroes or something until I fall asleep.” 

A pause, then, “Well, they're more like vigilantes. . .”

Marinette lets Damian’s voice lull her into a rare peaceful sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

Damian doesn't get far before there's a knock on his door and Dick pokes his head in. “Hey, Damian,” Dicks says, “It's almost time to go on--”

It seems that the older male finally took notice of the half asleep girl on his brother's laptop. Damian levels a glare at him, shifting so that his angel is half hidden from view. “What, Grayson?”

Despite the glare, his brother steps further into the room, leaning to see the screen. “Who’s this, Damian?”

“None of your business, Grayson,” Damian snaps. He can hear Marinette shifting, probably wondering who’s in his room. He huffs a quiet breath before saying to Marinette, “This is my brother, Angel.”

He doesn't catch his mistake until he sees Dick’s eyebrows shoot up. By then, Dick is already stepping smoothly towards the screen. “Hello, little lady. I’m Dick. Dick Grayson,” he says with a blinding smile. Damian rolls his eyes and turns back to his angel, ready to see a lovestruck expression directed to his brother. It’s no big deal, Damian is well aware that his brother is attractive.

But when he looks at Marinette, all he sees are her baby blue eyes staring at him with sleepy confusion. He desperately tries not to let his face warm. "Sorry, Angel. I'll call you tomorrow?"

"No, no," Dick interjects. "Who's your girlfriend? Angel? Is your name Angel?"

Marinette closes her eyes and presses more into the pillow. "No," she half-mumbles. "No, my name is Marinette. Dami just--" she yawns--"he just calls me Angel."

Damian closes his eyes and can practically hear the smirk in Dick's voice. "Oh really?"

"Yeah," Marinette mumbles some more, "it's a--it's a nice name. I like it when he calls me that."

Damian hides his face in one of his hands. He knows Marinette would never say those things if she wasn't half asleep. He opens his eyes just in time to catch Dick mouth "Dami?" at him with a big grin. He glares back.

"Actually, Angel, I think you should go to bed right now. I'll call tomorrow though, alright?" Damian says. Marinette nods sleepily and he ends the call, getting up from his seat and stalking towards the door.

"So," Dick calls out awkwardly as he heads out the door, "French, huh?"

"Shut up, Grayson!"

Of course Dick brings it up at one of the worst times. Patrol has been quiet. Batman has Robin, Red Hood, Red Robin, and Nightwing scoping out the alleys and such when Nightwing opens his mouth. 

"So, did you all know that Robin has a girlfriend, or am I the first to know?"

"Nightwing, I will slit your throat in your sleep, so help me--"

"Wait, Demon Spawn has a girlfriend?" Red Hood exclaims.

"No," Robin forcefully denies. "We're not dating. She doesn't like me like that."

"So you do want to date her," Red Robin concludes.

"NO!" he yells. He takes a few breaths before continuing. Getting mad and being loud is not good during patrol. "She's just my friend."

"A friend you call 'Angel' during a video call?" Nightwing teases.

"Angel?" Batman questions in a gravelly voice.

"Aww, Demon Spawn loves her!" Red Hood mocks.

Robin huffs and stays silent. 

"Wait, does she know who you are?" Red Robin asks. Robin starts scanning the alleyway below him. There are still a few more streets to check before patrol ends. 

"No, she doesn't know my last name. And I don't think she recognised me or Nightwing. She doesn't really know celebrities outside of fashion and Jagged Stone.”

"Ooh, a Jagged Stone fan? Better marry her now," Nightwing jokes. Batman stays silent.

"Oh shut up."

When school ends the next day Damian heads straight to his room, locking the door this time. He opens his laptop and accepts the invite. Damian guesses Marinette sends them out as soon as possible.

The screen now shows the empty background of Marinette's room. A flicker of surprise goes through Damian. "Angel?" he says.

There's a thump, a clatter of something hitting the floor, and then Marinette pops into the screen. Her hair is tied up in a bun and her bangs are clipped back with large flower hair clips. She's forgone her usual pajamas and a very large T-shirt hangs off her frame, hanging off both shoulders. "Oh hey, Damian!" She beams.

"Hey, Angel," he greets. "Nice T-shirt."

"Oh yeah." She absent-mindedly adjusts the neckline, but it just slips again. "It's my dad's. Or, well, it was my dad's but outgrew it a long, long time ago."

Oh. Damian digests that information with a blank face. If that's her dad's shirt years ago, then her dad must be a giant now. He exhales shallow breath. Meeting the parents will be very difficult. Wait. Damian backtracks his thought process. Meeting the parents as in as friends. Not-Not meeting the parents as in like, dating.

"So." He clears his throat. "Did your class try anything today?"

His angel shrugs. "I mean, Lila said she's dating someone called Damian Wayne."

What. Damian casually says, "Oh really?"

Marinette shrugs once more. "I don't know why she would say it now of all times, but she did. Actually, wait, Alya did ask why Lila was saying it now. I think the liar said because Wayne is famous she had to wait he said it was safe. . .? I think."

"Do you know what he looks like? Or who he is?" Damian hopes his voice doesn't betray him. He isn't going to lie or deny it if his Angel has figured it out, but it's nice to know that his angel isn't friends with him because of his fame or fortune. 

"Nah," she says carelessly, "don't really know who that is. I didn't think I needed to look him up, but if you--"

"No!" Damian distantly wonders if he's being too loud. "No, you don't need to. He's really not important, trust me, Angel."

His angel hums. "Well she did say he's in Gotham. So I guess you would know, being a Gothamium."

Damian lets out a chuckle and sees Marinette smile in response. "Technically we call ourselves Gothamites, not Gothamiums."

Marinette laughs and Damian compares it to bells. "Sorry," she breathes out. "I'll try not to mistake it in the future, Dami."

The nickname still makes him feel warm "No, it's no big deal, Angel," he assures her.

"Either way," she says, "I trust you, Dami. If this Wayne guy isn't worth looking up, then I won't bother."

"He really isn't," he says once more, and they smile at each other.


	3. Chapter 3

Marinette finds that recently the problem isn’t so much as akuma battles or staying up (though they do contribute). But now she’s realizing that she just. . . doesn’t have the energy or motivation to get out of bed. Especially when it’s just to go to school. Tikki pulls at her hair and Marinette tiredly asks, “Do we have to get up?”

“Marinette,” Tikki counters. The noirnette groans and rolls of her bed. After struggling with her hair for a solid minute, Marinette puts up her hair in a messy bun. She puts the bare minimum in her outfit, just shrugging a sweatshirt hoodie over her bra and thick, soft leggings tucked into combat boots. Before she leaves the room, Marinette grabs a pair of pink fuzzy earmuffs from her desk.

It isn’t long before Marinette is arriving at her classroom, bursting into the room just as the bell rings. Ms. Bustier gives her a disappointed look. “Technically, I’m not late,” Marinette points out with an out-of-breathe smile on her face.

Ms. Bustier sighs. “Just take your seat, Marinette.”

The teenager walks to the back with a sheepish smile, sliding into her seat while the class snickers. She catches Adrien giving her a disappointed gaze before Lila tightens her grip, and he turns his head back to the front. Marinette tried to fight back a sigh. In hindsight, she dodged a bullet with her old crush. Good thing she tested down all his pictures years ago.

“Alright class,” Ms. Bustier announces, “I am happy to announce that we are taking a trip to Gotham!”

The class erupts in whispers. 

Ms. Bustier laughs. “Alright, that’s enough, everyone. We are leaving soon, the exact date is in the packets Alix is going to be handing out.” Said girl obediently grabs the packets and starts passing them out. Marinette exchanges a nod and smile with her when she got her packet. “Please get your guardian to sign them and turn them in before the due date.”

Ms. Bustier sits behind her desk when she’s finished speaking, likely going on to her computer and finishing some work. As the class gets up and starts talking, Marinette sits with a small smile on her face. She’s going to Gotham! Maybe she can meet up with Damian. Against her will, Marinette hears Lila talk. “Oh I’m so happy to go back to Gotham,” the Italian girl says loudly.

“Oh yeah.” Alya snaps her fingers. “Didn’t you talk about your boyfriend, Damian Wayne?”

“Uh-huh,” Lila smiles. “I can’t believe you remembered that, Als!”

Marinette scoffs inside her head.  _ Als. _

“Unfortunately,” Lila continues, “He’s probably gonna pretend not to know me. You know, the Waynes don’t like a media scandal! Oh, I can’t wait to see Dami-boo again! It’s a shame he’s not gonna want to see you all.”

Marinette honestly feels a bit bad for whoever this Damian Wayne is. Even if Damian— _ her _ Damian—says he isn’t important, no one deserves Lila to be lying about them. She leans on her fist as she thinks about the Gothamite. Last call she had, Marinette forgot to ask him about the one before. To be fair, she was a bit distracted with working not the project, so when he called it caught her off guard.

Without thinking, she grabs her phone and texts,  _ something big happened. _

After her finger hits send, she’s struck by the realization that it would be very, very early in the morning for Damian. To her surprise (and slight worry) a text immediately pings back.

** _Are you okay?_ **

_ What? _

_ Oh yeah, I’m fine. I’m talking about something else _

** _Okay?_ **

_ Second thought go to sleep _

** _What did you want to tell me?_ **

_ Tell you later. Sleep. _

** _Fine._ **

Marinette stares at her phone with pursed lips. She doesn’t like how late Damian is staying up. Well, Marinette thinks, she’s certainly got no room to criticise. Although she does have a better excuse, being a superhero and fighting akumas. That will have to be paused during the trip though. Marinette fiddles with the front page of the packet.

The alarm blares and she suppresses a groan. The last year or so lots of public buildings have gotten an “akuma alarm.” Which is basically a fire drill, but sounds different and instead of going back inside, school is cancelled for the day. Marinette shoves her stuff into her backpack (a new one she got last year, pink with large black spots) and walks out of the classroom with her fellow classmates, breaking out into a jog when she gets to the bottom of the front stairs.

It's a second nature by now for her to slip into an alley and let Tikki zoom out of her purse. “You know the drill,” Marinette tiredly says. “Tikki, spots on!”

The bright light hurts her eyes and the cold seeps into her body. Ladybug struggles not to swear as she heads to Master Fu’s. Her warm clothing has disappeared along with her earmuffs. The superheroine pauses at a rooftop. Then, with a wince, Ladybug changes direction to head for the bakery. Her limbs feel heavier and she just knows that her reaction time is becoming more delayed.

She doesn’t linger, only opening the skylight and swiping the jacket she tossed on her bed that morning. The jacket helps keep her blood pumping as she tries to race to Master Fu’s. Ladybug knows she just wasted some time. The akuma is out there and no other miraculi are with their owners. Chat Noir might, but it is highly unlikely he’ll break his streak of arriving after the battle.

When Master Fu shows the miraculi, she pauses. “I am going to a trip soon,” she says. She tries not to think about how many are suffering from the akuma by now. “Ladybug will not be able to protect Paris.”

Master Fu stares at her and Wayzz hovers over his shoulder. Carapace and Rena Rouge have not seen the field in a long, long time. After a few moments the kwami and guardian share a look. “We trust your judgment, Marinette,” Master Fu says, smiling at her.

Ladybug nods determinedly and reaches out. The snake and dragon are easy to choose. Her hand hovers over the bee miraculous. After a tense second, she moves her hand away. Even if she did want to make Chloe a permanent protector, that can wait until after the trip.With a nod to Master Fu, she took off.

When the Miraculous Cure is sent out, she stops Viperion and Ryuko from leaving. Ladybug knows she’d usually visit them both separately to collect their miraculi but today is different. “I will not be in Paris soon,” she starts. At their alarmed looks, she continues hurriedly, “I am coming back, but for now I think you both are ready. If you choose to keep your miraculi you accept to become a permanent protector of Paris and defend it from Hawkmoth. Turn them in and it’ll stay just as it is now. The choice is yours.”

Viperion grins. “Of course!”

Ryuko’s more quiet with her happiness. “I will not fail you Ladybug.”

Ladybug grins at both of them. “Well this is great! Now we shall probably leave before Chat Noir comes or we detransform, huh?”

When she gets back she sends out a request to Damian and heads downstairs to the kitchen with her backpack slung across her arm.. She grins as she sees her mom get cookies out of the oven. “Oh Mama,” she sings. “Can you please sign this?”

As Marinette’s fishing for the paper in her backpack, Sabine sets the tray down and dusts off her hands. “Depends on what it is,” she teases as she takes the offered paper. She trails off as she reads. “Oh, Marinette. . .” 

Marinette scrunches her face. “What?”

“I don't know, honey. This much time in a foriegn city with your classmates? You said you weren't doing well in school with them, and I know they don't come around nearly as much, are you sure you want to go on the trip?”

Marinette smiles at her. “It’s okay, Mama. Honestly, what’s the worst they can do; it’s not like we’re gonna be glued by our hips!”

Sabine sighs. “Alright, Marinette. I’ll sign it. But Gotham has a high crime rate, so make sure to check in every day or so! You miss one check in and we’re flying you back.”

Marinette quietly cheers. “Thanks Mama!”

Sabine signs the paper and hands it back to her daughter, smiling as the teen bounces back up the stairs.

“Oh can you believe it, Tikki?” Marinette says as she sits down on her spinney chair. “Maybe I’ll even see Damian!”

“Gotham isn’t that small,” Tikki gently reminds her.

Marinette sighs and nods. “Yeah, it's nice to imagine though.”

“Maybe you can bring your project along! The packet did say there’s a formal event!” Tikki suggests. 

“Oh my god, I can!” she exclaims. After a pause, she adds, “I’ll have to finish it first.”

So Marinette gets out the notes and the fabrics and the thread and the needles. She works while pricking her fingers, she works while eating the cookies, she works while Tikki plays games on her phone. She works as Tikki discusses Chat Noir with her. She works until she hears Damian’s voice coming from her laptop. It's faced towards her, so she doesn't really need to move but she still gets up to lay closer, on her stomach. “Hey, Angel,” he greets. “What are you working on?”

Marinette sucks in a breath and quickly turns the laptop around. “Nothing,” she says, getting up to lie down again in front of the screen. “Just an outfit for myself.”

“Oh and I can’t see it?” he teases.

“Nope,” she responds. 

“Mmm.” He smiles at her.

“Oh!” Marinette exclaims, snapping her fingers. “Uh, you remember the video call before last? Like, the one where I was half asleep? Did-Did your brother come in. . . ?”

“Yes, he did,” Damian answers honestly. “Why?”

Marinette groans and buries her face in her arms. “Nothing, I just didn’t have the best memory since I was sleepy.” Not like she could forget anything before the last video call. Chat Noir, his talk, knocking on her skylight, everything before that. That’s still burned in her mind. “So you live in Gotham, right?”

“Yes,” Damian says, arching an eyebrow. “Why do you ask, Angel?”

“Well my class is taking a trip there soon!” Marinette does awkward jazz hands.

Damian perks up. “Really? Angel, that’s amazing. What hotel are you staying at?”

She shrugs. “I don’t know. We’re supposed to be touring a place called Wayne Enterprises, so probably close to there.”

“That’s close to where I live!” Damian says. “Maybe we’ll see each other!”

“That’d be amazing.” Marinette grins.

Damian smiles too. Marinette wonders if she can die from anticipation.


	4. Chapter 4

_ Maybe we’ll see each other.  _ Yeah right, Damian mentally scoffs. The French class is arriving today. If he and his angel go the entire length of the trip without seeing each other, he will fight the entire Justice League himself so help him. The only problem is the fact that Marinette never told him where she’s staying.

As if called on, his phone pings with a notification. Damian’s lips twitch up as he checks the text from his angel. 

**Angel: ** _ [a picture of Marinette taken in selfie position, with stairs and the bottom half of a hotel entrance in the background.]  _ Guess who just arrived!!!! :D

Damian feels a curl of pleasure wrap in his chest. Perfect. There are only three hotels close to WE, and based on what he can see in the background, Marinette’s at the one twenty blocks from Crime Alley. Which. . . was worrying, now that Damian’s thinking about it. He’ll have to tell Jason to put more effort during the trip to contain the area. 

Damian’s entirely sure that his family knows about the trip. It’s naive to think otherwise; Tim is CEO, he’d see any forms mentioning a foreign class tour most likely; Father will need to sign it for appearances if Tim decides to be an inconvenience, which he certainly will; and Jason and Dick will be annoying and nosy, respectfully.

But Damian doesn’t have to worry about that for at least fifteen more minutes. For now, he looks at his schedule and align events in his mind. Tonight the class won’t do anything, sleeping off the jet lag; tomorrow is the trip to WE. Damian doesn’t have anything tomorrow. What he does have is enough blackmail on his brothers that letting him be near the tour group will be the least they can do.

At dinner Dick sends him a sly glance. “So. . . Damian.”

“What, Grayson?” Damian sends a disdainful glance back.

“I heard that there’s a French class coming to tour WE tomorrow.” The older man taps his fork against his food. “Got anything to say?”

“Oh yeah,” Tim says tiredly, sipping coffee. “We had to get a person who could translate just in case.”

“Marinette’s class is visiting Gotham, yes,” he answers curtly.

“Marinette? What happened to Angel.” Jason chuckles.

Damian scowls. “You need to keep a close eye on Crime Alley now. I will not have you endangering her and her. . . friends.”

“Nice hesitation,” Tim says dryly.

“Sure, Demon Spawn,” Jason replies. There’s a grin plastered to his face and Damian rolls his eyes and gets up before his family can induce any more annoying tactics.

Gotham is busy tonight. Robin’s almost glad for the distractions. It’s all too easy to fall into a routine of beating up criminals and making sure he doesn’t go too far. His brothers are still insufferable, but now they’re interrupted with Father’s gruff voice and occasional grunt. It’s only an hour into patrol when he spots a teenage girl walking by herself.

Robin almost sighs. She must be either intoxicated, a tourist, or just plain stupid. He drops down in front of her and there’s a spark of interest when she shifts so her weight is evenly distributed and her hands tense. Then he actually takes a look at her and it takes most of his willpower not to inhale sharply.

Marinette’s hands lower a bit and Robin distantly registers that she has a purse on and a bag in her hand. “Robin,” she says uncertainly, with a hint of an accent.

“Hello,” he says, a bit breathless. He silences his comm and clears his throat. “What are you going out here? It’s not safe to be out here alone, especially at night.”

Marinette—his angel!—shrugs. “Couldn’t sleep. I just headed out to a fabric shop. My friend recommended it to me.”

_ (Perhaps you’d like the shop a few blocks away from the shopping center.) _

_ (Depends, how much is it?) _

“Well this isn’t very smart of a decision. No matter what your friend says.” Nice job at mixing up your words, idiot.

She hangs her head. “Yeah, sorry. I’ll just go.” She tries to hurry past him but he reaches out a hand, aborting the movement as soon as he sees her flinch. He frowns internally.

“Sorry,” he says, retracting his hand. “I just—I thought I could walk you home? I mean, if you don’t want to it’s fine, but it’s unsafe. So. . .”

Robin sees her contemplate it for a moment. “Well,” she starts, “my friend did say you’re trustworthy.”

Robin hums and holds out a hand. “You place an awful lot of trust in this ‘friend’ of yours.” She trusts him. His angel trusts him. Robin’s filled with a pleasant feeling.

“Excuse you,” she says, taking his hand, “he’s my best friend, and he’s a Gothamiu—Gothamite. So I trust him.”

Robin huffs and pulls her close, taking out his grappling hook. “You afraid of heights?”

“No,” she answers cautiously.

“Good.” He smirks and holds her firmly as he aims the tool. “Thick coat you have on. Along with earmuffs and a scarf, very cozy.” No, no, what are you doing? You act like that as  _ Damian!  _ She hasn’t met Robin yet.

“Well it’s cold—“ She gets cut off by her own yelp as the pair suddenly goes into the air. Robin doesn’t speak as they swing. He can feel a grin press against his shoulder. He won’t un-silence his comm for a while, orders be damned.

The trip is over too soon, landing them in front of a hotel, lobby dimly lit up. He and Marinette pull away and Robin looks at her. “Uh, here’s your hotel.”

Marinette nods and takes a step to the door, but then she stops. “Hey, Robin?” she asks, turning only her head towards him. “How did you know where I was staying?”

Oh. Robin scrambles for an answer. “Your voice has an accent. We—Batman and associates—got notified of a French class visiting. And this is the closest hotel to the shop you went to.” Does that work? It should.

Marinette nods slowly. “Okay, Robin.” It works!

He watches her walk into the lobby and only leaves when she’s in the elevator. He remembers his comm, goes to un-silence it, then remembers that all them most likely heard all of the conversation he had with his angel. 

A few more minutes of silence won’t be too bad.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ik some things in this chapter don’t make sense but it’ll probably be explained in the next chapter maybe
> 
> also HA i’m not dead

Marientte feels the bus going over the curb before it falls back onto the road again. She wasn’t able to sleep that well last night due to her encounter with Gotham’s "night life." Although at least she still got the fabrics, if nothing else; sadly the project she had in mind will have to wait.

She hears the hiss of the the bus doors

opening and stands up, slinging her bag over her shoulder. They’re allowed to bring carry ons, Ms. Bustier reminding them to keep in mind the weight and the fact they’re going to be carrying them all day long. Marinette isn’t stupid enough to have any valuable things in her bag; way too many things have "disappeared" during school days back in Paris. It’s idiotic to assume that they wouldn’t try the same tricks here. The designer has a jean jacket on with all her money, her phone, a small travel sized sketch pad, and a pen in her inner pockets.

All the bag has in it is just extra cheap ballpoint pens with a sweatshirt as well. It is enough to bulk it up, but nothing too valuable that can’t be replaced.

She’s the last student off the bus, and when the doors close after Ms. Bustier all the students are gathered in a group at the bottom of the steps leading to the absolutely ginormous building in front of them. Lila’s entertaining the group by pointing out a few places around them.

"Oh the bushes look different, they must’ve hired new gardeners! Which is really for the best, the others were horrid you see," she says, gesturing to the plant life. "Oh! Oh! And over there, that’s where Dami-boo gave me a rose for our first date. He’s so sweet like that."

"Really?" Alya asks in disbelief. "Because in his interviews he seems like a total jerk."

Lila coughs. "Well that’s just the media. They can be so exhausting sometimes it’s easier to pretend! Right, Adrien?"

The boy in question awkwardly looks away, rubbing at his neck. "Uh, yeah, but—"

"See!" Lila smiles brightly and begins to talk about some other thing before Ms. Bustier clears her throat.

"Actually Lila, we do have a schedule to keep to. Come along now, children!" 

The lobby of Wayne Enterprises is exactly what Marinette thought it would be, which surprises her a bit. There is a man waiting for them along with a lady that looks taller than him, even without her heels. The man sees them and a polite smile worms it’s way on his face. "Ah! Hello, my name is Dick Grayson, I’ll be one of your tour guides," he says in English. The lady repeats it in French, although she adds her name as well.

"I’ll be another one of your guides. If you’re in my group then I’ll be only speaking French. Keep in mind that no matter what group you choose you’ll still be given the entire tour. However if you feel that your grasp in English is good then you may take the tour with Mr. Grayson, who can provide extra fun facts about all this."

Unsurprisingly, majority of the class goes with Mrs. Cox, causing Ms. Bustier to go with that group as well. Only a handful goes to Mr. Grayson, including Marinette and, to her pleasure, Alix. The smaller girl is neutral in the whole class drama and Marinette is thankful that she’s in her group too considering the other members.

As the tour goes on, Marinette gets increasingly wary of the tour guide. She makes sure not to be too far from the group but it seems like his eyes keep flickering to her. She tries to hide behind Ivan’s bulk a bit, but then Grayson shifts his position and now she’s in his sight again!

What is with him anyways? He keeps looking at her, but he doesn’t do that to anyone else. Wait—no, WE wouldn’t hire a—no, no, Marinette’s just jumping to conclusions. She looks at him again while the rest of the groups crowding into the elevator and they lock gazes. The superheroine

looks away quickly and makes sure to be the furthest from him in the elevator.

On the next floor, Grayson reveals something that makes Marinette choke on her spit as she hears Lila inhale sharply.

"The floors at WE are by department. For example, my dad, Bruce Wayne, has an office a few floors up and he only shares it with his secretary and a few higher ups’ own offices." He was Bruce Wayne’s son? Wait, wait, wait, that still doesn’t mean—nepotism can only go so far, surely.

While Marinette’s worrying about the tour guide qualifications, Grayson leads them to the cafeteria where they regroup with the other group. Marinette puts off getting food in favor of getting a seat and pulling out her small sketch pad. It’s just a placeholder until she can get back to her hotel room where Tikki was waiting and transfer her ideas into her regular one.

It’s kinda lucky she got excluded from the class. No one wanted to room with her, so now she has an entire single bed room to herself. Which is fortunate for Tikki who is now unrestricted for the majority of the trip. It’s nice that her kwami can have more freedom; even in her bedroom in Paris, they needed to be aware of Marinette’s parents coming up without knocking.

As Marinette jots down a note about fabric stretchability, she hears a small scuffle from diagonal of her. Head snapping up, her eyes narrow at the sight of a slightly disheveled Dick Grayson grinning at her. "Hey," he said, "

Aren’t you gonna get food?"

"Um, actually I was just about to go," she laughs nervously, closing her sketch pad and starting to stand. Then a glimpse of fabric draws her eyes to the figure obscured by Grayson’s. "Er, hello there?" she greets uncertainly.

The person doesn’t respond, only shifting closer ron Grayson. The taller laughs a bit and says to Marinette, "This is my brother, Damian."

She blinks. "Damian Wayne?"

The person nods, and—well, now Marinette kinda understands why he’s wearing a hood on and sunglasses. Walking around without a disguise is probably dangerous for a kid celebrity. Especially in Gotham. Although, Marinette thinks it fortunate also because Lila’s here. Actually wait, them two meeting will be great because then he can expose her! Wait—

"I thought you were supposed to be meaner." The words leave her mouth before she can think, and Wayne straightens up a bit.

"Well he actually needs to leave seeing as we’re supposed to be walking your class and you to the bus again to go to the hotel right now. So he’ll be going somewhere else now," Grayson interrupts. "Off record, it was nice to meet you—ow!"

It seems like Wayne elbowed his older brother before he can open his mouth again. A smile is aimed at her and she smiles awkwardly back.

"Well, let’s go then," she says.

When the two join the rest of the class, she heads back behind Ivan as soon as she can.


End file.
